WASHINGTON, Sept. 3– U.S. President Donald Trump could soon send the National Guard to crack down on crime in Chicago, following weeks of deployment in Washington, D.C., despite continued opposition.
While Trump has been threatening this for weeks, the violence over Labor Day weekend — with at least eight killed and 50 wounded in Chicago shootings — may have strengthened his resolve.
“At least 54 people were shot in Chicago over the weekend, 8 people were killed. The last two weekends were similar. Chicago is the worst and most dangerous city in the World, by far,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday.
“I will solve the crime problem fast, just like I did in DC,” he continued. In a follow-up post, Trump claimed that “CHICAGO IS THE MURDER CAPITAL OF THE WORLD!” Trump recently warned Illinois Governor JB Pritzker on social media by saying that “better straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming!” At a press conference at the White House on Tuesday afternoon, Trump said he plans to send U.S. National Guard troops to fight crime in Chicago, while calling Pritzker a “terrible governor.”
Chicago is the largest city in Illinois and the third-largest city in the United States, after New York and Los Angeles, with approximately 2.7 million residents.
Recently, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has consistently rejected Trump’s proposal to deploy National Guard troops to the city, calling the president’s approach “uncoordinated, uncalled for, and unsound.” Johnson also said that deploying the National Guard in Chicago could “inflame tensions between residents and law enforcement.”
Pritzker, meanwhile, called the plan “unprecedented and unwarranted.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told CBS News on Sunday that the Trump administration plans to expand Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in major cities, including Chicago.
“We’ve already had ongoing operations with ICE in Chicago and throughout Illinois and other states, making sure that we’re upholding our laws, but we do intend to add more resources to those operations,” Noem said.
One day earlier, Johnson signed an executive order proclaiming that Chicago police will not help the National Guard with immigration enforcement, nor will the department help with manning checkpoints.
“This is about making a very clear distinction between what our law enforcement engages in versus what federal agents engage in,” said the mayor.
“This president is not going to come in and deputize our police department.” Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, told Xinhua: “There is a military base called Naval Station Great Lakes outside Chicago.
Trump can deploy National Guard and ICE to that base and then ICE can decide what to do from there.” Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua: “Trump will have a tough time in Chicago because both the mayor and governor are opposed to federal troops.
They view such a move as authoritarian … And probably will file a lawsuit to stop the deployment.” California has previously filed a lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco on Tuesday ruled that the Trump administration violated a 19th-century law banning the use of soldiers for civilian law enforcement activities when it mobilized 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June.
Shootings and homicides across Chicago are each down more than 30 percent through the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year, according to the Chicago-based WTTW station.
But critics said that despite the drop, the high incidence of murder is unacceptable. Some believe Trump is making some sort of power grab, or trying to punish the leadership of Democratic-led cities.
On Aug. 11, when Trump announced at a White House press conference that he is deploying the National Guard to assist in restoring law and order and public safety in D.C., he also cited Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore and Oakland as troubled cities — all Democratic-led cities.
“Despite pleas from residents, members of the city council, and even MSNBC, Pritzker is too blinded by Trump Derangement Syndrome to take action in the best interest of his constituents and end the bloodshed,” according to a White House statement published Tuesday.
“The Trump Administration’s message to Chicagoans and residents in Democrat-run cities nationwide is simple: you don’t have to live like this,” the statement said. (Xinhua)
